Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tuesday's Rant: why doesn't Target put one brand in ONE place?


On Tuesdays I sometimes take the opportunity to rant about something I do not like about Target… because although I love ‘em to death, they ain’t perfect. Today's rant was inspired by a few reader comments asking why Target didn't use the "store within a store" concept for Calypso St. Barth, and thereby group ALL the Calypso items in one area? Instead, Target has the Calypso goods spread throughout multiple departments - housewares, clothing, intimates, jewelry, etc. Honestly, if you didn't know to look for it, you wouldn't know that Calypso made these cute hair accessories. And even then, the women's versions are in the Health & Beauty section, while the girl's and infant versions are in those departments.

And this practice isn't limited to Target's limited-time designer collaborations. The other day I noticed that half of the Smith & Hawken stuff was in the Home Decor aisles, while the other half was in the Patio & Garden section.

If Target truly wants to hawk "brand names", they might do better by adopting the "store within a store" concept, especially with the designer collabs (like last year's Liberty of London, shown here). It'd be easier for shoppers to see all the branded goods in one place, and they potentially might buy more stuff if they see it all together. Come to think of it, wouldn't it also be easier for Target employees to set up, re-stock, and tear-down just one area dedicated to this?

4 comments:

a. said...

I've been saying this forever. It's SO annoying to have to hunt down the items all over the store. Why not put them in one place???

mommydearest said...

I'm guessing they do it to keep like items with like and to draw customers into the store in the hope that you'll purchase something you weren't planning on. But I find it super annoying.

andrea said...

I can see it's annoying for those of us who know these items are coming to have to look all over, but I think the way they do it makes sense. Not all folks out there know about the brand lines and just go to Target looking for something specific. If the item their looking for is only in that "brand area", they wouldn't know to look for it there. Say, if I didn't know anything about the Calypso items, and I was looking for some cute summer shoes, I would look in the shoe department...would possibly find the cute Calypsos and buy them. If they were in the "branded" department...chances are I wouldn't see them.

Lola said...

Love this idea, though as other commenters have mentioned, it does make sense to keep like items together, to catch people who are shopping for a certain item, rather than a brand. But for me personally, I go to check out the line, so I don't want to be running all over to figure out what products they've come out with and where they all are.